Protected's recent activity
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Comment on European Commission internally recommends Signal with disappearing messages in ~tech
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Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
Protected Link ParentMechanically it's more of the same, though I'd say Talos 2 is just a better game, featuring among other things: Better puzzle design, built around the various tripod components and lasers instead...Mechanically it's more of the same, though I'd say Talos 2 is just a better game, featuring among other things:
- Better puzzle design, built around the various tripod components and lasers instead of the more haphazard assemblage of mechanics you had in Talos 1;
- Better looking with much higher budget graphics and better cinematography, although Talos 1 didn't look bad by any means;
- A bigger cast of characters and plenty of dialogue, all superbly voice acted.
Talos 2 does not feature things that are specific to the context of Talos 1, mainly narrative-related (I don't want to be too explicit since you're still working on it and I don't want to ruin any plot twists). The philosophical challenges of Talos 2 are their own thing. Do they have the same wow factor and originality of Talos 1? Probably not, but it wouldn't make sense to just reuse the same gimmick!
And last I knew Talos 2 was not available for VR, but Talos 1 is.
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Comment on Hollow Knight: Silksong will cost $20, releases Thursday at 7 am PDT/10 am EDT in ~games
Protected Link ParentI often wait for the obscure indies I play to be discounted down to something like €20. That said, Silksong will sell more copies than those games by several orders of magnitude, so they don't...I often wait for the obscure indies I play to be discounted down to something like €20.
That said, Silksong will sell more copies than those games by several orders of magnitude, so they don't need such a big price tag to make a profit... It's sad that, these days, it feels odd that anyone wouldn't do all they can to make as much money as possible.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Protected (edited )Link ParentBut there was an arcade machine in Day of the Tentacle that contained the full Maniac Mansion! Or was that only the specific version I had? (EDIT: Computer apparently, not arcade machine. It has...totally oblivious that it is a sequel to Maniac Mansion
But there was an arcade machine in Day of the Tentacle that contained the full Maniac Mansion! Or was that only the specific version I had?
(EDIT: Computer apparently, not arcade machine. It has been more than 25 years!)
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Protected LinkI'm half way through my second run of Freeride, which is a very whimsical indie adventure game. And I love whimsy! At the beginning of the game, a girl invites you to hop on a train and go on an...I'm half way through my second run of Freeride, which is a very whimsical indie adventure game. And I love whimsy!
At the beginning of the game, a girl invites you to hop on a train and go on an adventure. The train, which contains a variety of non-human passengers, immediately takes to the skies and into the spirit world. You learn you're in one of the Fate Trains, which follow the Schedule of the Station Master - who is the god of Order - in order to keep Chaos at bay. The girl who invited you is the train's Conductor, a prestigious and respected position. So when she almost immediately disappears, leaving you with her badge of office and her powers of telekinesis, everyone's understandably upset and suspectful of foul play. Worse, cracks in the fabric of reality are gradually swallowing everything, and a massive war threatens the real world as well. You'd better do something about all of that! No pressure.
Telekinesis is your main way of interacting with the world of Freeride. Every location is full of all kinds of clutter, much of it humorous, which you can pick up with the power of your mind, move around, store in your limited size inventory/cell phone, eat (you can't eat everything, but you can eat more than you'd expect), gift to any character, or throw at enemies, which is your only way of winning/affecting combat encounters. This type of clutter-oriented gameplay reminds me -just a little- of other equally charming games I've played in the past, such as Mayhem in Single Valley or Going Under. Items have attributes that dictate what they're "good" for, and characters have preferences that determine how effective an item is when gifted to them.
Narratively, Freeride is highly non-linear, although there are a number of overall chapters and unavoidable events dictating progression. You don't have unlimited time to make choices (or to choose not to make them), and doing/saying one thing often makes another impossible. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say you are supposed to play through multiple times, and thanks to some different choices my second run is going very differently from the first one. One chapter became much shorter, while another became much longer, unlocking content I hadn't seen yet and new insights into the varied cast of characters. There is the odd seam in the fabric of the narrative when you realize something a character had said before makes more sense now that you've seen a scene that just hadn't happened before.
Freeride makes a big deal of how it collects all kinds of fun statistics about your gameplay. At the end of each chapter, a narrator character will discuss the choices you made with you (the player) and tell you how they compare with other players' on average, which is nothing unique - in fact, Catherine, the previous game I played, had a similar thing going. At the end of the run, the narrator summarizes your choices and tells you your personality type, which seems very unnecessary and Gen Z - though it doesn't really get in the way either way.
I'm not a huge fan of having to replay narrative games multiple times, but the story only takes a few hours and the big divergences in what happens are sufficiently interesting to me. Reminds me of certain old point and click adventure games in a good way!
For some reason I couldn't figure out how you're supposed to play this with a gamepad, but it works great with mouse and keyboard.
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Comment on Refusing LinkedIn's ID verification is costing me my job in ~tech
Protected LinkIt could be 1 or 3. Or a browser extension blocking a call to an endpoint, or even certain browser settings? Unfortunately I think you're going to encounter this sort of thing, if not on Linkedin,...It could be 1 or 3. Or a browser extension blocking a call to an endpoint, or even certain browser settings?
Unfortunately I think you're going to encounter this sort of thing, if not on Linkedin, at least definitely on Google, so you're only moving the issue around. I'm not sure how you're going to solve the problem without having to expose yourself (eventually) to this sort of invasiveness.
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Comment on Should C be mandatory learning for career developers? in ~comp
Protected Link ParentAh, you're describing my university degree. I like that I have a decent understanding of all that stuff, but it was very intensive and took me a long time to get through.Does it make sense to teach C without assembly, or assembly without raw machine code? Does this keep recursing down to individual logic gates and beyond?
Ah, you're describing my university degree. I like that I have a decent understanding of all that stuff, but it was very intensive and took me a long time to get through.
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Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
Protected Link ParentIt's really not. There's a whole philosophical component and mystery apart from the gameplay, but most of the actual puzzles are very straightforward affairs about moving parts around in a 3D...It's really not. There's a whole philosophical component and mystery apart from the gameplay, but most of the actual puzzles are very straightforward affairs about moving parts around in a 3D environment (sometimes it's possible to "break" the intended solution if you're clever about using the 3D space).
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Protected Link ParentStarting over? What are you having trouble with?Starting over? What are you having trouble with?
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
Protected Link ParentSpiritfarer was very memorable for sure. I'd never have thought I'd be so invested into feeding fries to a mushroom child whenever he wanted.Spiritfarer was very memorable for sure. I'd never have thought I'd be so invested into feeding fries to a mushroom child whenever he wanted.
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Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
Protected Link ParentI'll take it! It's The Talos Principle 2! East 3, I think? @velosol @trim @Asinine -
Comment on How to get a backpack sold by Decathlon in EU to the US? in ~life.style
Protected LinkI found this well-sourced post with the up to date status on current shipping difficulties from the EU to the USA . Anyone in the US considering having anything shipped from the EU at this time...I found this well-sourced post with the up to date status on current shipping difficulties from the EU to the USA . Anyone in the US considering having anything shipped from the EU at this time should get an update on this first.
(Note: Portugal not listed but our postal service, CTT, has also announced suspension.)
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Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
Protected Link ParentIt's a puzzle solving game! (but not Myst or Riven)It's a puzzle solving game! (but not Myst or Riven)
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Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
Protected Link ParentVery good guess, but no! Wrong time period!Very good guess, but no! Wrong time period!
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Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
Protected Link ParentThese are so cool! And there are lots of them!These are so cool! And there are lots of them!
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Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
Protected Link ParentIncorrect! But it's not an old game for sure.Incorrect! But it's not an old game for sure.
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Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
Protected LinkIt's always a vista. Often it's a landscape photo I photographed or created (panoramic). Sometimes it's a screenshot I took from a game, such as right now (can you tell which game this is from?)....It's always a vista. Often it's a landscape photo I photographed or created (panoramic). Sometimes it's a screenshot I took from a game, such as right now (can you tell which game this is from?). Rarely it's art released as a wallpaper.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Protected Link ParentLuckily I'm plenty experienced at puzzle solving, so the biggest source of frustration for me are the janky controls. All it takes to move around and climb up and down is to tap the analog stick -...Luckily I'm plenty experienced at puzzle solving, so the biggest source of frustration for me are the janky controls. All it takes to move around and climb up and down is to tap the analog stick - no button presses required unless you're pushing/pulling blocks - so imagine tilting the stick just slightly wrong and launching yourself to your death after 50 moves!
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Comment on Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit with a vulgar name that could only be eaten rotten. Then it was forgotten altogether. Why did they love it so much? And why did it disappear? in ~humanities.history
Protected Link ParentOpen Ars, the new... fediverse... art portfolio platform...?Open Ars, the new... fediverse... art portfolio platform...?
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Protected LinkI'm half way through Catherine. This was a generous gift from @cheep_cheep ! The protagonist of this game, Vincent, is in a long term relationship with a woman called Katherine. At the beginning...I'm half way through Catherine. This was a generous gift from @cheep_cheep !
The protagonist of this game, Vincent, is in a long term relationship with a woman called Katherine. At the beginning of the game she starts dropping hints that she wants to get married, and also informs him that she's pregnant. More or less at the same time, a drunk Vincent meets a woman called Catherine at the bar where he drinks and hangs out with his friends and they end up sleeping together. Henceforth, when he falls asleep, Vincent is transported to a nightmare world in which he is a sheep and has to climb an endlessly collapsing tower of blocks, sometimes chased by aggressive giant monsters made of female body parts or marriage-related stuff. The towers are populated by other escaping sheep representing men from Vincent's life who cheat on their partners, and news start coming out of men dying in their sleep...
This is an Atlus game, and their DNA is all over it. Like in Persona, the game progresses from day to day, and there's a distinction between the waking/daytime sequences, in which Vincent frequents his usual haunts and participates in conversations with acquaintances and cutscenes, and the nightmare sequences which contain all of the gameplay. The tower climb is very much a puzzle platformer, with Vincent having to open his way up by pushing and pulling blocks and dealing with various types of blocks.
The time limit imposed by the tower progressively collapsing from bottom to top means speed is of the essence, and especially in boss levels the timing can be pretty tight. Controls are a little janky, often changing from camera-based to tank controls depending on where Vincent is; levels typically have one single checkpoint, and since you can freely push blocks off the tower it's not only possible but easy to put yourself in an unwinnable position (or just fall off), which means a single mispress can result in having to repeat a very long sequence. Levels typically end up requiring you to memorize all the moves needed for making your way to the top and pulling them off perfectly. Luckily it's also very easy to gain extra lives (at least so far), so you will rarely have to reload from save.
The story of Catherine is obviously oozing with subtext. The "problem" I have with it is that I kind of... hate every character? Vincent is obviously the worst, too indecisive and cowardly to be honest with either woman (or both) and seemingly content to live each day on a razor's edge, constantly lying to himself and everyone. But I can't say I like Katherine or Catherine either, for reasons I don't want to spoil (and I suspect they're only going to get worse).
Visuals are pretty decent; there are 2D anime sequences by Studio 4°C, but even the 3D cutscenes are well animated, with some great facial expressions on the characters. I'm playing in japanese; unfortunately some of the lines are missing subtitles for some reason, but I do recognize some of the top voice talent that they used from various animes. On the one occasion in which I died, there was no checkpoint; I had to reload from save and replay through a bunch of cutscenes, which was rather annoying. You have to remember to save before leaving the bar, as there's no way to save at the beginning of a nightmare!
The game has only crashed once so far. Could be worse!
Politicians, law enforcement officers, intelligence agencies and militaries.